Staff Backend Engineer - Core Product
Summary
Build and maintain core backend systems in Python, focusing on data pipelines and evaluation loops to power Kalepa’s AI-driven decision intelligence platform.
Role Description
We’re looking for strong backend engineers who love building reliable systems around fragmented, but high-value data. As part of the Core Backend team, you’ll work on the systems at the center of Kalepa:
- Designing services
- Data models
- Pipelines
- Evaluation loops
The goal is not just cleaner data, but an intelligence layer that makes better, faster, and more explainable decisions.
You’ll join a high-ownership team responsible for some of Kalepa’s most business-critical infrastructure. Your work will make our data more complete, our decisions more transparent, and our products even more valuable.
You'll be right at home if you:
- Have 8+ years of software engineering experience.
- Embody hustle and grit, you're excellent at your craft and relentless in pursuing it.
- Take full ownership of your work and drive projects to completion with minimal oversight.
- Communicate proactively, surfacing blockers, asking the right questions, keeping stakeholders in the loop.
- Thrive on experimentation: you're comfortable testing ideas, measuring results, and iterating quickly on problems no one has solved before.
- Have strong fundamentals in system design, debugging, and problem-solving.
- Know Python (our main stack), though we're open to strong candidates from other OO backgrounds.
- Have experience with serverless technologies (Lambda, EC2), asynchronous workflows, and cloud environments.
- Are comfortable with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL.
- Bonus: experience with LLMs/generative AI, distributed systems.
Qualifications
- 8+ years of software engineering experience
- Strong fundamentals in system design, debugging, and problem-solving
- Proficiency in Python
- Experience with serverless technologies (Lambda, EC2)
- Familiarity with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL
- Bonus: experience with LLMs/generative AI, distributed systems
Requirements
- Embody hustle and grit
- Take full ownership of work
- Proactive communication
- Thrive on experimentation
Benefits
- Competitive salary (based on experience level)
- Significant equity options package
- 20 days of PTO a year
- Global team offsites (2021 - Playa del Carmen, 2022 - Rome, 2023 - Buenos Aires, 2024 - Lisbon, 2025 - Cartagena)
- Healthy living/gym stipend
- Mobile phone bill stipend
- Continuing education credits